Energy Savings for Schools Program

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By Katie Kershman

Delivering cost-effective energy services and advancing innovative energy solutions is the mission of the Colorado Energy Office. This year, in support of its mission, CEO piloted a new approach for the Energy Savings for Schools (ESS) program. Up to four school districts will work with CEO’s program administrator, Brendle Group, to identify energy and water goals, educate staff and students on conservation and plan and implement projects that result in increased awareness and cost savings.

Through the program, districts receive:
• Free technical support, and energy and water conservation coaching
• Free customized Resource Management Plan that sets goals, identifies priorities and activities, helps gain district buy-in and creates a culture of conservation
• Free electricity monitoring equipment and coaching to track electricity use in real time on a web-based dashboard
• Free hands-on resources for engaging students, including printable educational materials and learning activities
• Free recognition opportunities and connections to peer districts

“We understand how limited resources are — especially staff time and money — for districts in Colorado, and we also know how important conservation is for the bottom line,” explains program manager Susan Bartlett. “CEO’s program aims to help each district understand its baseline, set conservation goals and make both operational and behavioral improvements that are tangible and teachable.”

Operations and maintenance costs are the second highest operating costs for K-12 schools after instructional spending, according to the Financial Transparency for Colorado Schools website. It’s estimated that more than $2 billion could be saved nationwide by improving energy efficiency in school buildings, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To reduce these costs, the EES program provides districts with:
• A menu of easy-to-do efficiency projects and activities
• Improved learning and leadership opportunities for students
• Resource planning support and best practices for long-term energy, water and cost savings
• Help identifying and pursuing potential funding sources
• Tools to maintain momentum
• Improved environment for students, teachers and administrators

To date, two districts are testing the new pilot. In March and April, Gunnison Watershed School District took conservation to its classrooms to raise awareness about energy and water use. “The support for student engagement and classroom activities has been the most exciting part of the program so far. Our teachers have been very enthusiastic about engaging both their classrooms and beyond, with the goal to not just teach in their classrooms but to engage the entire district,” explains Transportation and Facilities Manager Paul Morgan. “The engagement support ESS provides is helping us build more than just a one-year curriculum. Our aim is to continue engaging future students in conservation learning and activities for years to come.”

Sheridan School District began student and staff engagement in April. As part of the program, both districts will complete a Resource Management Plan that identifies additional operational and behavioral activities they will undertake in the next school year and how they plan to share their progress with the broader school community.

There are still two spots remaining for school districts interested in participating in the pilot this school year. You can learn more about the pilot on the program website: ColoradoESS.org. If you know of a school that might benefit from the program, contact Bartlett at 970-207-0058 or ess@brendlegroup.com.

Writer Katie Kershman is with the Brendle Group, an engineering and planning firm.

Co-ops’ Commitment to Zero Contacts

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By Amy Higgins

Complacency can be dangerous. And with years of experience and daily repetition, it is easy to get complacent — both at home and on the job.

But complacency at work, especially for electric lineworkers, can be disastrous. Working with electricity is one of the most dangerous jobs out there and one mistake can lead to a catastrophic event. For example, if a lineworker fails to inspect his rubber gloves and has the smallest tear, he could be vulnerable to a fatal contact with electricity.

A new electric co-op initiative is designed to help lineworkers get back to basics, slow down and take time to be safe.

Identifying the problem
About five years ago, the injury rate at electric cooperatives was declining, but a closer look showed that the most serious injuries and fatalities were far too frequent to ignore. From 2006 to 2016, the electric cooperative industry experienced an average of 23 injuries per year. Of those injuries, approximately 40 percent — 10 to 11 per year on average — were from an electrical contact.

“When we looked across the industry, it was the same across communities in the industry, so we started partnering with Federated (the electric co-op insurance company) and meeting with cooperative leaders and looking at what we could do to study the problem,” said Bud Branham, director of safety programs at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “We started looking at that [data] and realized very quickly it’s a cultural- or behavioral-based problem where people — at organizations and co-ops — get blind spots over time, and in those blind spots you might have some inconsistencies in your basic work practices.”

“A lot of times we just focus on the power lines; we don’t focus on the other things around us,” said Dale Kishbaugh, director of safety and loss control at Colorado Rural Electric Association. Things like surrounding traffic, uneven working ground or confined spaces could affect how safely a job is done.

“We want to slow people down, especially on the routine work, and we want to do good job planning,” Branham explained.

Creating the program
Driven by the dedication of the safety of cooperative employees, NRECA, Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange and the safety leaders at the nation’s electric cooperatives introduced the Commitment to Zero Contacts initiative in April 2018. Through the program, participants are asked to take a pledge to take all the necessary steps at work and home to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities.

Following protocols, even if it makes the job longer, means everyone goes home at the end of the day.

Following protocols, even if it makes the job longer, means everyone goes home at the end of the day.

“We also asked senior leaders and the employees at the co-op, especially the field employees, to make a commitment. That commitment is really key,” Branham explained. “All the research shows that when people make a voluntary commitment that links to their internal values and they put it in writing — display it publicly — it has a large effect on changing or affecting their behaviors and awareness.”

“Commitment to Zero is not the next program; it is an initiative focused on eliminating contacts by permanently changing culture and addressing perception and behavior,” noted Corey Parr, Federated vice president of safety and loss prevention. “The initiative is focused on three keys: awareness, expectation and accountability.”

Commitment to Zero Contacts comes with a slate of resources to help electric co-ops get started, including implementation guides, placards, videos and promotional materials. Federated even created an app: S.A.F.E.

An acronym for Stop And Focus Everyday, the S.A.F.E. app is a job-planning tool to help workers avoid missing crucial steps at every job site, especially the most routine jobs where oversight and injuries are most common.

“The intention is just trying to get everybody to do their best every day, and if you see somebody in harm’s way, prevent it before it happens,” Kishbaugh said.

Rolling out the initiative
“We’ve done the groundbreaking with the ‘speak up, listen up’ training,” Kishbaugh said. “We’re just continually going out to support our co-ops and making an effort to get everybody to make that commitment that they’re going to go home the same way they came to work every day.”

Many electric cooperatives already have a safety program established and use the Commitment to Zero Contacts program to enhance it, which is highly encouraged. Fort Collins-based Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association and Mountain View Electric Association, with offices in Falcon, Limon and Monument, are two Colorado cooperatives doing just that.

“When I heard about the program, rather than just jump on it right away, I came back and I talked with our safety team to get their ideas,” said Jeff Wadsworth, president and chief executive officer at PVREA. Wadsworth handed it off to a team of employees, which consisted of linemen, equipment operators, tree trimmers and even office employees who also face work hazards every day.

The PVREA team took the Commitment to Zero Contacts initiative, integrated it into their current safety program and began promoting it with specially-made hard hats, stickers and signs. They even created a video called “This is My Why,” featuring PVREA families who remind their loved ones to be safe on the job, saying: “We want our loved ones home at night,” “So we can grow old together” and “So we can play LEGO games.”

Based on employee feedback, MVEA rolled Commitment to Zero Contacts into its “Commitment to Safety” program that targets three groups within the co-op: leadership, qualified employees and employees who do not work with high voltage. Those in each group were asked to sign a “Commitment to Safety” pledge.

“When employees get hurt, or worse, it affects everyone and changes everyone forever,” said Todd Thomas, safety compliance administrator at MVEA. “This effort is intended to remind us to slow down, be safe and watch out for each other. We do this for ourselves, our families, our friends and our co-workers.”

MVEA’s “Commitment to Safety” logo can be found on all internal memos, the monthly safety posters, in the monthly employee newsletter and on employee wallet cards that highlight MVEA’s Safety Improvement Plan Priorities as well as important RESAP (Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program) information.

As of late February, 14 of those in Colorado’s electric co-op community had made the Commitment to Zero Contacts; 530 co-ops nationwide made the pledge.

“The commitment we ask for is not about people admitting they’re doing anything wrong or that there’s any finger pointing, or blame pointing,” Branham explained. “It has nothing to do with liability. In fact, we hope that the commitment will reduce the exposure, and the co-ops are aware across the country so that we have our people go home safe at night. Basically, that’s the bottom line.”

Amy Higgins is a freelance writer for Colorado Country Life.

CREA Backs Your Local Co-op to Serve Members Better

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By Derrill Holly and Amy Higgins

The true power of locally-owned electric cooperatives is the consumer-members living and working in the communities they serve, and when those co-ops are connected, their collective energy gives them statewide reach.

That’s the role that the Colorado Rural Electric Association and other electric cooperative statewide associations play in supporting the goal of ensuring that co-op consumer-members always have safe, affordable, reliable energy.

“Our main objective is to complement what Colorado’s electric co-ops do at the local level,” said CREA Executive Director Kent Singer. “We aggregate all of their great work so we can talk about it collectively to all of the interested parties in the state who potentially have an impact on co-op consumers through laws, regulations or public policy.”

At the direction of its affiliated electric cooperatives, CREA is regularly involved in education and training, legislative affairs, tax and regulatory matters and regional planning. It also provides a framework for coordination of many activities that provide more meaningful results when addressed through collective action.

Capitol Concerns
It’s not unusual for Colorado’s lawmakers to deal with hundreds of bills with thousands of amendments during a legislative session — many never advance beyond committees or face numerous revisions during hearing and review processes. Keeping track of even major changes is no small feat.

Besides members of state legislatures or general assemblies, there are also regulatory commissions, typically made up of appointees who may be more familiar with major investor-owned utilities than they are with member-owned electric cooperatives.

“It’s all about making policy-makers aware of who we are, what we do and why we do it,” said CREA Director of Government Relations Geoff Hier. “We need to do whatever we can to help them understand who we are and, most importantly, that we’re all reaching for the same goal: providing safe, reliable, environmentally-friendly electric service at the lowest possible cost.”

Leveraged Learning
When it comes to safety, operating efficiency and governance, skills and training can help an electric cooperative run more successfully and serve its members better. But when co-op employees are spread across several locations and committed to maintaining 24/7 operations, getting true value for training dollars can be challenging.

CREA offers training in multiple locations across the state, so participants don’t always have to travel to Denver. In 2018, CREA’s education department had 272 people in the eight director courses it offered. For employees, 28 classes were offered ranging from courses on leadership skills to work orders, line design and staking, as well as training for different work groups such as the mechanics and human resource managers. More than 500 employees participated in these classes.

Education opportunities abound for those who participate in CREA’s annual meeting, the Energy Innovations Summit and the Fall Meeting. The Energy Innovations Summit is open to guests outside the co-op program and is an opportunity to mix with other industry leaders, adding additional value to the program.

CREA provides safety training for all 22 distribution cooperatives in Colorado. With three job training and safety instructors, each cooperative receives five weeks of training per year. The safety training is generated around Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements.

The department also offers mutual aid assistance to members and to other states requesting assistance during times of need. The cooperatives participate in a National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Federated Insurance program called the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program, or RESAP, which is managed by CREA’s safety and loss control department. Once every three years, each cooperative is extensively examined by volunteers from other cooperatives.

Engaging Future Co-op Members
Electric cooperative statewide associations also take a leadership role in many of the youth outreach programs supported by local electric cooperatives. CREA and other statewide associations coordinate the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, sending about 1,900 high school students from 46 states to Washington, D.C., every June.

“As cooperatives, we understand that our student leaders of today are our community leaders of tomorrow,” said CREA Director of Member Services and Education Liz Fiddes. “What better time to teach these students about the cooperative business model and co-op careers than through our youth programs?

“Colorado has taken students to Washington, D.C., for 25 years and to the Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp for 42 years,” Fiddes added.

For many Youth Tour participants, the co-op sponsored trips are the farthest they have ever ventured from their home communities without their families. They also provide exposure to state and federal government operations, and opportunities to learn and practice skills that will serve them for a lifetime.

“We promote the life skills that today’s generation value, like building relationships, developing leadership skills and enhancing their resumes,” Fiddes said.

Participants develop strong relationships with their sponsoring electric co-op that often include speaking or volunteering at annual meetings and other co-op events. The results are meaningful community service hours and experiences that often inspire college application essays or can lead to technical or member services career opportunities after graduation.

These are just a few ways that statewide associations like CREA support electric cooperatives. Everything they do is aimed at one goal: bettering the communities they serve.

Derrill Holly writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Amy Higgins is a contract writer covering Colorado’s electric co-ops.

How Net Metering Impacts Electric Cooperatives

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By Paul Wesslund

One of the most controversial and least understood energy issues today is net metering.

At its most basic, net metering is a state law requiring utilities, including electric cooperatives, to purchase the excess electricity produced by consumers who have rooftop solar panels. But that’s where the simplicity ends.

States and electric utilities have established net metering programs to encourage clean energy generation. Nearly every state has some kind of net metering rule and they’re changing all the time. In the first nine months of 2018, states took more than 400 actions to change how they compensate small energy producers, according to the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center, which collects net metering information from around the country. Some of those actions strengthened net metering laws, others weakened them.

In Colorado, electric cooperatives’ net metering requirements are governed by state statutes and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) interconnection standards. The statute requires all electric cooperatives to allow interconnection of a net metered generator of a renewable resource up to 10 kilowatts for residential accounts and 25 kW for nonresidential accounts, provided the installation complies with the interconnection standards adopted by the PUC.

Colorado co-ops may choose to have policies to allow installation of larger projects, but must interconnect at the 10 and 25kW minimum levels if the interconnection standards are met. If a cooperative denies an interconnection, the cooperative must provide the applicant with a written explanation for the denial.

Here are some additional explanations about net metering:

What is net metering?
Net metering is a way of measuring and valuing the electricity output of privately-owned solar panels. Net metering requires utilities, including electric cooperatives, to buy excess electricity back from consumers who have some way of generating electricity themselves. Net metering typically means that the consumer’s meter rolls forward when the consumer uses power and rolls backward when the consumer sends excess electricity back to the electric grid.

That excess electricity could be produced by solar panels, a windmill or a micro hydropower project. By far, the main source of this extra electricity comes from homeowners who installed solar panels on their property. Whenever their solar system generates more electricity than their home is using, under net metering, the electric utility must compensate the homeowner for the excess electricity.

The PUC interconnection standards are intended to protect the safety of the consumers, employees and owners of the net metered account by requiring approved equipment and availability on the circuit to be interconnected. Cooperatives may deny an interconnection if the equipment isn’t up to standards or if there is not sufficient available capacity on the circuit to accommodate additional net metered accounts.

How do electric utilities compensate consumers for the excess electricity?
Some net metering programs require the utility to buy back or credit the consumer’s bill for that electricity at the same retail rate the utility charges for selling electricity. Other programs allow the utility to credit the consumer at the wholesale cost, which is what the utility pays for power. Some utilities require that these consumers (with privately-owned generation) be metered separately. Under these net billing programs, the consumer receives a bill with the credit for the excess electricity subtracted from the total amount due.

All Colorado electric cooperatives are required to adopt policies to compensate net metered consumers for excess generation and to determine the annual “true up” date. However, there is no statutory formula for compensation. Therefore, each cooperative has discretion regarding the amount and timing of compensation for excess generation.

Is net metering new?
Net metering programs have been around nationally since 1983. Since then, 38 states and the District of Columbia put their policies and requirements into law. Additionally, states started passing other laws, such as renewable portfolio standards, that require electric utilities to have certain amounts of their power generated by renewable energy resources, to encourage solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy.

What makes net metering challenging?
The basic challenge with net metering is that sometimes the policies require electric utilities to pay high costs for what is often “low-value power.”

The reason it’s low-value power is you can’t count on it. There’s no solar energy at night and no electricity from wind during calm weather. Renewable energy advocates argue that net metering rates are a great way to support green power, but utilities say it’s not fair for them to have to buy electricity from a rooftop solar owner at a rate that covers round-the-clock service when that’s not what the homeowner is providing.

The results of that imbalance are where the net metering issue gets complicated. One result is that the economics of net metering create a subsidy for rooftop solar owners paid for by those who don’t have solar panels.

The cost difference between buying wholesale electricity at retail rates didn’t matter so much at first, but solar energy is booming, potentially reshaping the effect net metering could have on the energy industry. The number of rooftop solar installations grew 63 percent from 2012 to 2015, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. As a result of that kind of growth in potential net metering use, many states started rethinking their net metering rules.

Another result affects the ability of the utility to plan for its basic job of supplying reliable and affordable electricity. The engineers and accountants who run an electric utility that provides power 24/7 need to place a higher value on dependable electricity, like from a natural gas or coal power plant, than from several homeowners who may or may not be generating electricity when it’s needed.

Net metering payments also don’t cover the costs of setting up a billing system, paying taxes or any of the utility’s other fixed costs.

What alternatives are there to net metering?
Net metering programs that set the price at wholesale cost are more likely to ensure appropriate levels of compensation for both utilities and consumers who are generating electricity. Also, net billing programs provide a more equitable compensation to the net metered consumer without leaning on other consumers who don’t have solar panels or other ways to generate power at home. Additionally, NRECA suggests other policies for supporting renewable energy without implementing net metering. Those could include tax credits for installing renewable energy systems and dedicated research funds aimed at lowering costs for alternative energy.

How are electric co-ops supporting renewable energy programs that benefit all consumer-members?
Electric cooperatives are leaders in community solar programs that offer their members the opportunity to participate in renewable energy programs that are more affordable and reliable than privately-owned solar panels. Community solar arrays can be sized and priced to fit consumer demand, reducing risks of cross subsidization. With the help of NRECA, co-ops are also working to minimize costs of large solar projects.

As the energy industry continues to undergo major changes, whether to technology, renewable energy use or other emerging trends, electric cooperatives continue working with all co-op members to ensure the delivery of the safe, affordable, reliable and environmentally-sustainable energy our communities depend on.

The Colorado Rural Electric Association expects legislation in the 2019 session to encourage the development of renewable resources, potentially including net metering. There have been discussions regarding increasing or eliminating the 10 and 25 kW minimum interconnection levels. CREA and Colorado’s electric cooperatives supported the legislation to create the current laws regarding net metering and believe they are still appropriate. The law established reasonable thresholds for net metering and allow individual cooperatives flexibility to be as expansive and creative as their consumer-members want to encourage the development of net metering.

Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Reasons You May or May Not Want an EV for Christmas

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By Paul Wesslund

Wondering if an electric vehicle is a good gift idea for you or your significant other this Christmas? The answer could depend on where you live.

Electric vehicles account for just 1.2 percent of the U.S. vehicle market, but sales are booming, growing 25 percent last year. And they’re getting better and cheaper as researchers improve the batteries that power them. Here’s a guide to help you decide if an electric car is for you — or if you just want to be smarter about one of the next big things in energy.

The first thing to realize about electric cars is they can drive more than enough miles for you on a single charge, even if you live out in the wide-open countryside.

LOCATION ISSUE 1: THE DISTANCE MYTH
Try keeping track of your actual daily use, advises Brian Sloboda, a program and product manager at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“If you’re an insurance salesman, you’re logging a lot of miles, so an electric car’s not going to be for you,” he says, noting that a typical range for an electric car today is more than 100 miles, and ranges of 150 to 250 miles are becoming common. “But if you look at how many miles you drive in a day, for most people in the United States, even in rural areas, that number is under 40 miles per day. So if your car has a range of 120 miles, that’s a lot of wiggle room.”

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the average American drives 25 miles per day, and for rural areas that average is 34 miles a day.

Sloboda says another reason it’s worth thinking realistically about your daily mileage comes from the most likely way an electric car would be refueled. When an electric car is done driving for the day, you can plug it in to recharge overnight. Essentially, you’re topping off the gas tank while you sleep, giving you a fully-charged battery every morning.

There are three ways to charge an electric car:
Level 1 — The simplest charging technique is to plug the car into a standard home outlet. That will charge the battery at a rate that will add two to five miles to its range each hour. That’s pretty slow, but Sloboda notes the battery might start the charging session already partly charged, depending on how far it is driven that day.

Level 2 — Faster charging will require a professional installer to upgrade the home’s voltage for a unit that will add between 10 and 25 miles of range for each hour of charging — a rate that would fully charge the battery overnight. Sloboda says installing a Level 2 charger in a house or garage would run $500 to $800 for the equipment, plus at least that much for the labor. Timers can also be used to charge the vehicle in the middle of the night when electric consumption is typically lower.

Level 3 — DC (direct current) fast charge requires specialized equipment more suited to public charging stations and will bring a car battery up to 80 percent of capacity in 30 minutes. Sloboda warns this high-speed technique should only be used for special long-distance driving, since it can degrade the battery over time. That’s also why DC chargers shouldn’t be used to bring the battery up to 100 percent.

LOCATION ISSUE 2: OFF-PEAK ELECTRIC RATES
What you pay to charge your electric car could also depend on where you live, Sloboda says. He advises checking to see whether your local electric co-op offers a lower rate to charge an electric vehicle overnight, when the utility has a lower demand for electricity.

“It’s different depending on where you are in the country,” Sloboda says. Some local co-ops have fairly stable electric demand throughout a typical day, so they may not offer a special electric vehicle rate. He says there are areas of the country where the on-peak, off-peak difference in price is extreme, so it might make financial sense for the utility to offer an overnight charging rate.

Another factor affecting the economics of an electric car is, of course, the cost of the vehicle.

“These cars are really in the luxury and performance car categories,” Sloboda says. As electric cars improve, projections put their cost coming down to match conventional vehicles by about the year 2025. But today, the average electric car costs close to $40,000, compared with less than $30,000 for several internal combustion engine vehicles.

LOCATION ISSUES 3 AND 4: ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY
For many people, one of the biggest selling points for electric cars is their effect on the environment, and that can also depend on where you live.

The sources of electricity for a local utility vary across the country — some areas depend heavily on coal-fired power plants, others use larger shares of solar or wind energy. One major environmental group analyzed all those local electric utility fuel mixes and determined that, for most of the country, electric vehicles have much less of an effect on the environment than conventional vehicles. That study by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that in the middle part of the country, driving an electric vehicle has the equivalent environmental benefits of driving a gasoline-powered car that gets 41 to 50 miles per gallon. For much of the rest of the country, it’s like driving a car that gets well over 50 miles per gallon.

“Seventy-five percent of people now live in places where driving on electricity is cleaner than a 50 mpg gasoline car,” the report from the Union of Concerned Scientists states.

Other local factors that will affect an electric car’s performance include climate and geography, Sloboda says. The range of the vehicle will be affected by whether you regularly drive up and down mountains or make a lot of use of the heater or air conditioner.

Sloboda concedes that electric vehicles are not for everybody. One limit to their growth is that no major carmaker currently offers an especially popular choice: a pickup truck. Although, the development of electric pickups is under way at Atlis Motor Vehicles and Workhorse group, and discussions show Tesla is considering developing an electric pickup as well.

Sloboda suggests possible advantages of an electric pickup: a heavy battery in the bottom would lower the center of gravity for better handling, and at a remote work site the battery could run power tools.

Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Co-op Solar Projects Start and Succeed with SUNDA Project

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By Derrill Holly and Amy Higgins

Electric cooperatives are committed to providing safe, reliable, affordable energy to their consumer-members, and in many parts of the country that includes increasing the availability of solar power.

“Co-ops are big supporters of an ‘all sources’ national energy policy,” said Debra Roepke of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s business and technology strategies group. “Our challenge is finding ways to get sustainable value out of investments that not only help meet the needs of co-op members today, but also control their costs in the future.”

Roepke spent more than four years as NRECA’s liaison and co-project manager of the Solar Utility Network Deployment Acceleration (SUNDA) project, an initiative launched by NRECA with partial funding from a Department of Energy Sunshot Initiative grant. In that role, she worked with generation and transmission cooperatives, electric cooperatives and other organizations involved in planning, developing and assessing the value of various approaches to solar projects.

Colorado Solar Projects
Between 2013 and 2018, total solar capacity owned or contracted by electric co-ops grew from 94 megawatts to 868 MW. Electric coops host more than two-thirds of all utility-sponsored community solar projects.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission, based in Westminster, has three projects totaling 85 MW of utility-scale solar in place. According to NRECA, Tri-State is the top solar G&T in the nation.

Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, based in Fort Collins, utilizes community solar energy from six sites throughout northern Colorado and owns 2.7 MW.

“We have had a demand for a community solar option since we decided to build our first solar farm in 2012; the farm sold out before it was even built,” said David White, PVREA vice president of member relations. “Members continually requested a solar offering so we constructed a second solar farm that is five times bigger than our first solar farm, which sold out just a few months after construction was complete.

“An important part of our mission is to provide exceptional service to our members and, if meeting their energy needs includes a solar component, we need to be prepared to deliver,” White explained. “SUNDA provided resources at our fingertips that would have taken considerably more time to research on our own.”

SUNDA Provides Research
Solar projects, regardless of size or structure, help to build a knowledge base accessible to all electric co-ops.

PVREA’s first community solar project was Highlands Community Solar, followed by the Willox Community Solar Farm. Both thrived but were Power Purchase Agreement projects, which means the farms are owned and operated by a separate entity that PVREA purchases the energy from.

“With the success of two solar farms under our belt, we decided to build our third solar farm: the Coyote Ridge Community Solar Farm,” White said. With this project, PVREA wanted to take a different approach where the cooperative would own and operate the solar array, eliminating the need for a third party to maintain the farm. However, the co-op did not yet have the experience to do it on its own.

“SUNDA was a great resource for PVREA, providing information on engineering, procurement and construction. We found their financial analysis tool to be instrumental in evaluating options,” White explained.

Materials provided by SUNDA help electric cooperatives with everything they need to know about the process of attaining solar power, from conceptualization to planning and execution, as well as communication with the co-ops’ memberships. White explained that SUNDA’s resources helped cut the amount of time it would have taken otherwise to build Coyote Ridge, which sits at 74 percent subscribed today.

“SUNDA has supported cooperatives across the country,” said Lee Boughey, senior manager of communications at Tri-State. “The sharing of knowledge helps co-ops understand the opportunities with solar and reduce risks, which leads to successful projects”

Declining Costs
Several SUNDA participants contend that declining prices helped move solar from a demonstration or educational technology to a competitive asset within wholesale generation portfolios in many areas of the United States.

Solar products and components are improving, and the manufacturing and vendor base continues to expand. That led to substantial declines in the cost for deployed solar. According to NRECA, the per-watt costs declined from $4.50 for the first research project in 2013 to less than $1.40 per watt in 2018.

“The ultimate economics of solar lends itself to serious consideration as a daytime resource,” said Todd Bartling, vice president of renewables development for the National Renewables Cooperative Organization.

With an average of 300 days of sunshine annually, Colorado electric cooperatives are primed to benefit from this renewable energy resource, given their membership’s support.

“With clear skies and bright sunshine across the West, decreasing costs and federal tax incentives, solar power is an attractive resource for both Tri-State and our members.” Boughey said. “We are able to blend solar power and other renewables with our owned and contracted resources to keep power reliable and costs down for our members.”

“The industry is working to reduce the costs of the underlying equipment, installation and financing,” Bartling said. “Those improvements will help ensure the technology’s commercial viability when or if tax incentives designed to hold down costs are phased out.”

Shared Insights
Thanks to the SUNDA project, all of this information is available to electric co-ops. Shared experiences and open discussion are among the greatest strengths of the electric co-op movement.

Derrill Holly writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Amy Higgins is a freelance writer for Colorado Country Life magazine.

DOE Study of Modern Electricity

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By Paul Wesslund

Today’s energy landscape is dynamic. October is Co-op Month and this year’s theme is “Cooperatives See the Future.” Colorado’s electric co-ops are a diverse group, but our overall focus boils down to our biggest concern: achieving our member-consumer’s energy needs, now and in the years to come.

Coal-fired power plants are closing. Homeowners with rooftop solar panels are selling unused electricity back to their utility. Wind farms are springing up across Colorado’s eastern plains. Fracking and other drilling techniques have cut the cost of natural gas by more than half since 2002, and doubled the amount of electricity generated by natural gas.

What does all this mean for the nation’s network of wires and power plants, otherwise known as the electric grid? The answer lies within a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy, says Pam Silberstein, senior director of power supply for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“It’s incredibly well-written, well-researched, very thorough, very comprehensive,” Silberstein says. “It’s a well-put-together compilation of the state of the grid.”

DOE’s August 2017 Staff Report to the Secretary on Electric Markets and Reliability describes the complex state of the electric grid and goes into great detail on how utility trends might affect the price and availability of electricity. It highlights the importance of retraining coal and nuclear power workers, and the effects that renewable energy has on the stability and reliability of the existing electric utility system.

Better reliability
Another way to describe the report: If someone decided that every high school student should understand how the nation’s system of electric wires and power plants works, this study would make a good textbook.

Silberstein sees the grid study as a report that puts in one place all the changes affecting utilities and what those changes might mean. She says, “We’re asking our utility systems to meet a lot of demands they haven’t been asked to do before.”

The study was a quick-turnaround response to an earlier memo from DOE Secretary Rick Perry to DOE’s chief of staff to “explore critical issues central to protecting the long-term reliability of the electric grid.”

Many things changed for electric utilities over the past 20 years, and this DOE study describes that new landscape with enough detail to satisfy the most hard-core energy nerd:

• About 15 percent of the nation’s power plants have been retired since 2002, mainly coal and nuclear plants. That trend is expected to continue due to low natural gas prices, slower growth in demand for electricity, environmental regulations and more solar and wind power. While new generating capacity from sources including natural gas and renewable energy, has amounted to about three times the plant retirements, that radical change in the energy mix requires new ways of managing the flow of electricity from the power plants where it is made to the homes and businesses where it is used.

• People are demanding better reliability in their electricity, enough that utilities have supplemented their goals of reliability with a newer term, “resilience.” Basically this means getting the lights back on faster after a natural disaster. That has utilities experimenting with things like utility-scale storage batteries and more precise targeting of which customers should get power restored first.

• A lot of states are passing renewable portfolio standards that mandate levels of green energy, creating a patchwork of requirements in the national grid.

• New and growing additions to the electric grid are changing the way it needs to be managed. Those new power sources include rooftop solar panels that sell electricity back to the utility; natural gas plants that require new pipelines; solar and wind farms in remote areas that need to be connected with new transmission lines; and “demand response programs” in which utilities can turn off home water heaters and air conditioners for short periods during times of peak demand.

Recommendations from the study include:
• Updating the pricing arrangements that govern the buying and selling of electricity.
• Improving disaster preparedness.
• Reviewing regulations that limit the growth of power generation, especially for coal, nuclear and hydroelectricity.
• Focusing on workforce development as energy workers face a changing energy marketplace.
• Modernizing the software that manages electricity transmission.
• Coordinating with Canada and Mexico to enhance electric reliability across all of North America.

The study also notes the importance of cybersecurity to the electric grid, but reported that would be addressed in an upcoming joint report from the DOE and the Department of Homeland Security.

Paul Wesslund writes on cooperative issues for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

A New Solution for Greenhouse Gas

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By Paul Wesslund

Later this year, five teams of scientists and engineers from around the world will start packing up and relocating their laboratories to a patchwork of gravel lots next to a coal-fired power plant in northeast Wyoming. Their mission: nothing less than finding beneficial ways to reuse greenhouse gas that’s released into the Earth’s atmosphere.

They aim to grab the carbon dioxide gas from the burning coal before it can contribute to climate change and turn it into something that might be part of everyday life, like concrete, plastic or liquid fuel.

Dan Walsh, the senior power supply and generation director for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, sees value in the Wyoming research, even beyond reducing the environmental effects of coal plants. He says it would be great if we stopped thinking of the carbon in carbon dioxide as nothing more than waste.

“We see a need to take carbon dioxide and turn it into a useful product,” Walsh says. That won’t only reduce waste at coal power plants, he says, but also for users of other carbon-based fuels like natural gas and gasoline.

“The electric power industry is no longer the largest generator of carbon. The transportation industry now owns that title,” Walsh says. “We have to do something, not just for power, but for the planet to come up with a way to utilize carbon dioxide in a beneficial way.”

A breakthrough for humanity

XPRIZE finalists are building labs at this Wyoming power plant where they will test beneficial uses of carbon dioxide.

The Wyoming launching pad for that high-flying goal brings together far-flung partners, including Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which supplies electricity to 18 of Colorado’s 22 electric cooperatives. Other partners include Wyoming’s governor, local electric co-ops and a group that awards multi-million dollar prizes “to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.”

Two years ago, the XPRIZE, a private innovation group based in California, announced $20 million in prizes “for transformational approaches to converting (carbon dioxide) emissions into valuable products.” The final prizes will be awarded in 2020.

In May of this year, XPRIZE narrowed the applicants to 10. Five of those will set up shop later this year on the Wyoming test site. The other five will operate out of Alberta, Canada.

Electric co-ops have a special stake in the Wyoming test site: the power plant is owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which is based in North Dakota; and financial support comes from Colorado’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission, as well as NRECA.

The XPRIZE finalists that will be building their labs at the Wyoming site are:
• BREATHE — from India, working to produce methanol, which can be used as a liquid fuel.
• C4X — from China, developing new ways to produce plastics.
• Carbon Capture Machine — from Scotland, producing building materials.
• CarbonCure — from Canada, specializing in cement and concrete processes and products.
• Carbon Upcycling UCLA — from California, making a substitute for concrete.

During the next six months, those teams will be setting up “mini-factories” at the Wyoming test site, says Jason Begger, executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, which oversees the site, whose formal name is the Wyoming Integrated Test Center.

Begger says the teams will set up to access the ductwork and piping providing flue gas from the power plant, which contains about 12 percent carbon dioxide. They’ll develop the technology to separate and convert the carbon dioxide from the flue gas and show that their projects can turn waste carbon into useful products.

The test center project started with a state government initiative to plan for the future of the region’s coal resources, and has quickly connected to the larger worldwide effort to capture and use carbon dioxide. In June, the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority formally partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Carbon Capture Center, a testing site in Alabama established about nine years ago. That agreement will mean closer cooperation with the Carbon Capture Center’s experience and its network of experts.

Connecting with other researchers

The DOE’s Carbon Capture Program Manager John Litynski explains how the agreement benefits the Carbon Capture Center as well: “We can only test up to 1.5 megawatts, which we call small pilot scale. The Wyoming test center has the capability to test up to 18 megawatts … which we would call large pilot.”

For years, the DOE has explored ways to remove the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. The basic problem they’re trying to solve is the costliness of the process and the huge share of electricity produced by the power plant that it uses up. One of the longstanding ideas for managing greenhouse gases has been to remove the carbon dioxide from the power plant emissions, then inject into underground rock formations, an idea called carbon capture and storage.

But the XPRIZE and the Wyoming test center take a different approach of finding something more useful to do with the carbon dioxide than storing it permanently underground.

The DOE recently added the quest for new uses of carbon dioxide to its research. The main focus of the DOE effort is to search for better ways to remove the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. Litynski says that this year the department is spending $90 million to research carbon capture. Its spending about $12 million on carbon utilization, up from about $1 million three years ago. This summer the DOE issued a $13 million request for research projects on “novel methods for making products from carbon dioxide or coal.”

While headlines about coal and climate change are generating controversy around the globe, the Wyoming test center is heading in a different direction. Walsh credits the center’s international collaboration of government, private groups and electric co-ops with “a great vision” for rethinking one of the world’s biggest energy dilemmas.

Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Colorado Co-ops Share About Recovering from Fires

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By Amy Higgins

Fires have been burning all over Colorado this summer and, while most fires seem to be contained as of press time, several Colorado towns in electric co-op territory are still feeling the burn — environmentally and economically. Three co-op communities have particularly felt the impact of this year’s wildfires.

Helping hands through diversity
In San Isabel Electric Association’s territory in southern Colorado, the Spring Creek Fire, more frequently referred to as the Spring Fire, began on June 27, 5 miles northeast of Fort Garland, according to the U.S. Forest Service Incident Information System on InciWeb. As of July 13, the Spring Fire was 91 percent contained. At 108,045 acres burned, this fire is said to be the third largest fire in Colorado history and its area was declared a disaster zone by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

SIEA worked closely with the Rocky Mountain Blue and Rocky Mountain Black incident management teams, as well as the staff at the emergency operation center in Huerfano County. During the fire, the Blue and Black teams instructed SIEA crews where and when to de-energize lines and electrical equipment for the safety of firefighters and public at large.

The 416 Fire began on June 1, 13 miles north of Durango. At press time it was 50 percent contained and 54,129 acres were burned, according to InciWeb.

The day-to-day operations of electric co-op crews quickly adjusted to help keep their community safe. “We are constantly shifting guys around to be on call 24/7 to assist the fire team,” said Justin Talbot, operations manager at La Plata Electric Association, based in Durango.

A view of the 416 Fire from Cottonwood Pond. Photo by Jennifer Wheeling.

While the wildfires raged, cooperative crews’ daily projects were slowed to ensure someone was available to assist the local incident management teams around the clock. “We also have to be very conscious of keeping our guys rested,” Talbot said. “This is an adrenaline rush to them just like any other first responder. These guys get that same feeling as the fire team — they are wanting to help and will do whatever it takes to get it done.”

The Lake Christine Fire began on July 3 at approximately 6:15 p.m., just 1 mile northwest of Basalt. At press time it was 55 percent contained with 6,693 acres burned.

Holy Cross crews making repairs during Lake Christine Fire.

“The Roaring Fork Valley is a pretty narrow valley with Independence Pass at the southern end. Therefore, our lines are often closer together than you typically place them if you were working to ensure redundancy of the system,” explained Jenna Weatherred, vice president of member and community relations at Holy Cross Energy, the co-op headquartered in Glenwood Springs. “We lost the transmission line from Gypsum to Basalt and were then left with one line serving Basalt, Snowmass and Aspen. Unfortunately, this line was also in the fire’s path, and we were very concerned about losing it. If we had lost this line, those communities would have been without power for up to 72 hours.”

“The lineworkers really deserve a lot of credit,” said SIEA Communications Manager Paris Elliot. “They’re working 16-hour days nonstop in the heat, and they love it because they know they’re making a difference in helping people.”

As one of the newer employees at SIEA, Elliot was amazed by the can-do attitude of her fellow employees. “We started ordering poles and transformers as soon as the fire began and we’re ready to rebuild,” she said. “These are just pieces of equipment and they’ll be replaced. The victims of the fire, the sacrifices they’ve made don’t compare — these homes are priceless.”

Economy, concern for co-op members
As firefighters contained the blazes, thousands of Coloradans were without power or evacuated from their homes altogether.

“The (Lake Christine) Fire, which destroyed three homes, resulted in the evacuation of 1,793 residents from 664 homes by the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, with some residents being kept from their homes for almost a week, Weatherred explained.

The U.S. Forest Service has not yet reported the exact number of evacuees and damaged structures from the Spring Fire, but news outlets recently reported more than 140 homes destroyed in the fire.

The residual from these wildfires is not only ash and debris, but also job loss and tourism decline.

“The area where we’re talking about (with the Spring Fire), these are some of the poorest counties in the state of Colorado; they’re already facing tremendous economic hardship,” Elliot said, pointing out that the smoke has cleared and most roads are now open, including Highway 160, the main highway through the area. “The majority of access to the area is open. There’s still tons of beautiful mountains, lakes and streams to fish and play in.”

Smoke fills the air as a wildfire spreads through hard-to-reach places. Photo by LPEA member Jennifer Wheeling.

“The smoke has been horrid and our tourism economy has suffered, so everybody is doing what we can to tell folks that Durango is open for business,” added Indiana Reed, LPEA public information officer.

Fire restrictions led to tourism cancellations as well as local shopping decline, so Durango businesses are doing what they can to summon people back to the area with special events like Fab Fridays, concerts, demonstrations and tours.

LPEA customer service representatives decorated a new “Power of Giving Tree” at the Durango office, encouraging the community “to give a little to help a lot, and assist their friends and neighbors economically impacted by the 416 Fire,” according to an LPEA press release.

This is all that is left at this home site devastated by the Spring Fire.

“The big takeaway for me is that there isn’t one member in Huerfano County and Costilla County who hasn’t been affected by this fire. If they weren’t evacuated themselves, they have a family member or friend who was evacuated,” Elliot said. “There was livestock that was unable to escape the fire or be evacuated. There’s land that was lost. The economy changed. There’s literally not one thing that isn’t going to be affected by this fire.”

In light of the damage and economic downturn in Colorado’s burn areas, folks are mindful of the dangerous work that was — and still is — being performed by emergency crews. Locals go out of their way to show their gratitude to firefighters and the many others who put their lives on the line to keep them safe.

“The first responders and firefighters that fought and are still fighting this fire are so brave and courageous,” Weatherred said. “They worked so hard to save homes, keep people safe and protect our power lines. The firefighters are the true reason we’ve been able to keep the power on during this emergency, and we are so thankful for their efforts.”

Amy Higgins is a freelance writer who lived in Denver and knows these areas devastated by the fires.

The Value of New Appliance Features Depends on the Buyer

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By Paul Wesslund

The Sloboda family needed a new refrigerator so Brian volunteered to do the shopping. After all, he’s a national expert on electric appliances.

He came home frustrated. There were too many choices, even for the guy whose job title is “program and product line manager for energy utilization, delivery, and energy efficiency” at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “Just buy whatever you want,” he told his wife.

NICE, BUT NEEDED?
Sloboda finally used his in-depth knowledge when he looked over the model that his wife Sami Jo brought home. “Why didn’t you get the version that has a camera inside, so you can use your smartphone in the grocery store to see if we need more milk?” he asked.

“Because it costs $500 more,” she said. That, Sloboda said, was a good reason. That’s the kind of reasoning we’re all going to be using as we grapple with the newest trend in appliances: connection to the internet.

“The number one problem for homeowners is trying to determine which of the things actually present value,” Sloboda said. “There are infinite possibilities. They sound nice when you first hear about them, but you have to remember you are paying more for those features.”

Web-connected appliances could also offer online diagnostics. There might not be strong, everyday reasons for a washing machine to be hooked into cyberspace, but if it broke, the manufacturer could log in to figure out what’s wrong. That could help decide the best way to repair or replace the equipment. But is it worth the extra cost?

READ THE LABEL
If you’re longing for lower-tech help in decision-making, look to the yellow and black U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyGuide label on each appliance. “It’s one of the single greatest pieces of information that you can find when you buy an appliance,” Sloboda said. The most useful info is the big dollar figure right in the middle of the label, showing what it will cost to use that appliance for a year.

Sloboda cautioned that the number doesn’t tell you exactly what you will pay because it doesn’t use your local utility’s kilowatt-hour rate, but it’s a perfect way to compare appliances because every appliance’s label is based on the same national average electric rate.

“You can stand in that aisle looking at all the washing machines and you can scan the entire row and narrow your options down from a dozen,” he said, “down to the three or four that use the least amount of money.”

Other especially useful parts of the label, he said, include the lower right corner — if you see an Energy Star logo, it means the appliance will use less energy than one without such a label. Sloboda also singles out the upper right corner that lists the manufacturer and model number, which you can use for more detailed comparisons with other models.

Pay attention to the age of the major energy-using appliances you have at home. New motors added dramatic energy efficiency advances over the past several years, and older motors started degrading in refrigerators and in heating and air-conditioning systems. Consider upgrading air conditioners and heat pumps older than 10 years and refrigerators older than eight years.

HELP WITH DECISIONS
The Department of Energy offers a handy way to check whether it’s time to replace your refrigerator — visit the EnergyStar.gov website and in the search box type “flip your fridge calculator.” You’ll find a link to a page where you can enter your type of refrigerator and its age to calculate how much you could save buying a new one.

All these options mean more decisions for consumers, but help is on the way. Sloboda said electric co-ops are working with two national laboratories to study the most useful ways to connect appliances with the internet and with the utilities that provide the electricity. He said over the next two years the study will report on how consumers can more easily make decisions on how to use appliances and even how to enhance cyber security for the growing number of internet-connected devices in the home.

The aim of the study is to understand what the value of internet-connected devices is to the consumer. “Then the manufacturers can start to build products that the consumer wants,” he said. The study will also look for futuristic-sounding ways co-op members can sign up for optional utility programs to help them decide how they want to use electricity.

“The appliances would be networked and they would talk to one another,” he said. “In a very advanced scenario, the home could actually reconfigure the way appliances are being used depending on occupancy of the home at the moment and the weather conditions.”

That setup could even let homeowners decide if they want to save as much energy and money as possible or if they rather the house be warmer or cooler.

“They won’t have to figure out if they want to set the thermostat back,” Sloboda said. “The homeowner would tell the system whether they wanted to maximize comfort or maximize savings, then the home would communicate to the utility. That way it won’t be the utility controlling the system, it won’t be the appliance manufacturer but it will be the occupant of the house who is making the decisions.”

It doesn’t sound like shopping for appliances is going to be any easier in the future, so do your homework, study your options and then select what works best for you and your budget.

Paul Wesslund writes on cooperative issues for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.